1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to dental models and methods of forming dental models. More particularly, the invention relates to an adjustable dental model pouring jig and a method of using the same.
2. Related Art
Traditional dental model pouring jigs and apparati for creating a dental model from a mold of a person's teeth have been in use for many decades. The model is typically formed by having a patient bite into a pliant casting material, which cures to create a mold cavity having a negative impression of the patient's teeth and gums. The mold can be of all or any portion of the patient's gum line. A castable material is then poured into the negative impression to create a stone replica or dental model of the patient's teeth and gums.
The primary function of a dental pouring jig is to hold the mold of a person's teeth and position pins adjacent the mold when creating a model of the teeth using a model forming (castable) material. In the past, the pins were commonly clipped or temporarily secured to a flat disk that was held in position by features of the pouring jig. More recently, the pin positioned by first drilling a hole into a model of the teeth that has been formed by filling the mold of a person's teeth with a model forming material and then gluing the pin into the hole.
Known pouring jigs have many disadvantages. For example, the adjustment features of known pouring jigs, if available, are typically awkward and difficult to adjust with any degree of precision. Further, typically only the feature holding the mold or the feature holding the pins is adjustable. With this limited adjustability, it is difficult to position the mold and pins in a precise way relative to each other either when preparing to pour a dental model using the pouring jig.
Another disadvantage of known pouring jigs is the amount of time it takes to make adjustments to the jig and the ability to recreate the same adjusted position. Also, known pouring jigs are typically configured for a single mold and dental model base size, such as, for example, sizes that reflect a large, medium and small sized mouths. A yet further limitation of known pouring jigs is that they are configured for either a quadrant or a full arch dental model base, but not compatible for both a quadrant and full arch dental model base.